


I've been up all winter for someone like you

by flemoncake



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gendry's first time in the North, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:41:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29437701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flemoncake/pseuds/flemoncake
Summary: Arya takes Gendry up North for the first time and teaches Gendry how to ice skate.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	I've been up all winter for someone like you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Persuade_me](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persuade_me/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day friend! I hope you like this little story. Have a beautiful day ❤

"Arya, wait up!” Gendry calls after her. He has not even put on his boots properly when she already runs up to the car. It’s still dark outside and the snow crunches under his feet as he walks away from the house.

And the warmth of the bed in Arya’s old room where he slept very peacefully before a very energetic Arya woke him with kisses on his back before whispering “Get up Gendry!! Today is the day!”. She had left the room but left the door to the enlightened bathroom open.

When he had emerged from the bathroom, showered, and dressed but still yawning she had handed him a thick dark green wool sweater.  
“According to Bran that’s the warmest piece of clothing you can find around here! Good thing you are the same size now! Also footwise. Here are the shoes, if they are too big, you can always put on another pair of the socks” she had chirped, cheeks red and a big smile on her face. Gendry had squinted his eyes.  
“Had she been outside already? Crazy northern girl” he had thought to himself and had followed her with a smile down the steps into the hallway of the Stark Manor.

“Come on! Sun will be up soon, we have to hurry!”, she calls over her shoulder when she opens the car door of Gendry’s truck. “It’s not that far by car but we’ll have to walk for a little while.” She sits down and starts the engine.  
“Yes finally!” she exclaims when he puts on his seatbelt next to her, then rubbing his hands together, blowing into them and repeats.  
“Fuck, Arya. You’re crazy! It’s too early and way too cold to be up!” he grumbles. “Remind me, why did I agree to this?”  
Arya chuckles and turns to him while turning the key to start the car. “Because you love me and can’t say no to me?” she asks with an innocent smile, leaning over and cupping his cheek.  
“Plus, I promised you Hot Pie’s famous hot chocolate and some pastries, remember?”  
“True. Both of it.” He mumbles.  
“But especially the hot chocolate sounds intriguing!” he adds with a wink, then he leans forward and drops a kiss on Arya’s forehead.  
“Yeah right” she laughs and unlocks the break.  
“Then maybe you’ll have no objections when I eat all the croissants myself?”

Ten minutes later they arrive at a parking lot. Arya hops out of the truck and rounds the car to get their stuff out of the trunk. She slings her own bag with the shoes over her shoulders and holds out a basket when Gendry moves up to her.

“Hot Pie is a sweetheart! And a hopeless romantic. He packed it all up in this picnic basket. There are also blankets and even a polaroid camera to I quote “document the baby steps”. Can’t wait to meet you by the way. He was all hyper earlier.”  
“Wait you got all this today??” Gendry asks surprised “I thought we would drive by his shop after?”  
“Change of plans!” Arya says cheerfully and started walking towards a small forest.

The sky is already looking brighter and out of the basket wafts a delicious smell, so Gendry follows her with quick steps, pulling up the zipper of his parka all the way up and fastening the gloves tighter around his wrists to shield himself from the cold wind.

Arya doesn’t look like the cold air is affecting her all that much. She happily hums a tune and insists to carry the basket when Gendry offers to help her.  
“Not necessary, it’s not that heavy and I don’t want you stealing away those delicious croissants!” she teases him. “And we are almost there anyway.”  
Gendry who had looked down so far to see where he was stepping on the unknown terrain looks up. They are emerging from the forest and in front of them lays, completely deserted and very peaceful – a little lake, water all frozen up.  
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Arya asks next to him.  
“Yes” he answers, his eyes taking all the beautiful nature in.  
So here Arya spent a big chunk of her childhood. Swimming with her siblings in the summer, fishing with her cousin Jon in autumn, picking flowers for her dad in the spring. The perfect place to run happily and feel carefree. Arya had told Gendry a lot about this place but seeing it with his own eyes is something else.

He gets now why Arya needs to leave the hectic city so often. Why the grey concrete of the city streets makes her miss the green hills of the North.  
Gendry is lost in thought trying to picture Arya as a little girl running around the lake. Arya as a teenager, proud in her new bathing suit with the polka dots that she still owns.

“Gendry! Come on, put on your skates! Sunrise starts very soon!” Arya’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts, and he sits down on the bench next to her. She is bending down and lacing up her skates.

Gendry takes Bran’s ice skates out of the bag, slips out of his thick winter boots, and tries them on. To his surprise they fit quite well but his body is freezing in the cold morning air, so he puts on the additional pair of socks that Bran had stuffed in the left boot, nonetheless.

When he is finished, he stands up and watches Arya step onto the ice gracefully. She slides a few meters forwards and with a happy laugh she spins around and comes back to him, extending her left hand. Lovingly she takes him in, standing there at the shore of the frozen lake, his arms around his upper body to warm himself and eying the ice warily.  
“Don’t be afraid, love”, she calls out to him. “Come here, take my hand”.  
“What if I’m too heavy? You’re sure that ice will hold me?” Gendry wonders.  
“I’m sure! Just do it, I’m with you!” Arya smiles at him and extends her right hand as well. “What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll catch you if you fall!”  
“Promise?” Gendry calls out, now smiling too.  
“I promise, Gendry.”  
So, Gendry takes a deep breath, stretches out his hands for Arya and steps onto the ice.

As soon as he starts to move his body swings forwards.  
“Woooah” Gendry yells, but Arya’s hands are there, and she stabilizes him by pushing against him.  
“Easy there!” she shoots him a reassuring smile. Then she starts sliding backwards and takes him with her.  
“Just let me pull you. Get used to the feeling first.”  
And so, they glide over the ice for a while in big circles. The sun finally comes up, colors the sky in a beautiful pink and warms their faces.  
Gendry gradually stands taller, not supporting so much weight on Arya anymore. His highly concentrating face starts to soften and when he finally lifts his gaze from the ground, he meets Arya’s brilliant smile.  
“Isn’t it amazing?” she asks, her cheeks red from the cold.  
Gendry squeezes her fingers that are now intertwined with his own and nods.

Arya wants him to let go of one of her hands but Gendry is still afraid. “Too much too soon!”

Then he is stubborn and tries anyway and he falls down, takes Arya with him and they lay laughing on the ice, Arya hovering over him and she cups his face and presses a kiss against his lips.  
“You’re doing so well! I can’t believe this is your first time standing on ice ever!”  
“I might be southern and never been to the North but I’m not a coward!” Gendry growls.  
“That’s what I’m saying! You’re so brave!” Arya snickers.  
“Now I seriously feel mocked! Come here!” he grabs for her wool hat and pulls it over her eyes, then he starts to tickle her.  
Their laughter warms him up inside, so much that he doesn’t even feel the cold from the ice they are laying on.

They laugh and laugh and then Arya pulls up her hat again and lays her head on his shoulder and for a moment both of them say nothing, they just enjoy the warmth from the sun rays on their faces.  
“Arya?” Gendry then calls out in a soft voice.  
“Yeah?” she answers, her voice relaxed and mirroring the softness in his own.  
They lock eyes.  
“You make me very happy. So damn happy” Gendry tells her, pulling her even closer to him.  
“Even when I force you to wake up in the middle of the night in deepest winter to get pulled over the ice scared the entire time?  
“Even then.” He touches the tips of her hair. “No one ever has been so patient with me.”  
“You make me very happy too, you know?” Arya whispers.

Then she kisses him, deeply and lovingly.  
Her lips wander to his cheek and she drops a kiss there too. When her mouth reaches his ear he can feel her hot breath on his skin. Her hand drops from his cheek to his chest, wandering slowly down and resting on his lap.  
She moves her finger over the fabric of his jeans, before she whispers slowly “And about that part of me being patient”, she pauses “I know a perfect way how you can show me your patience in return.” Then she nibbles on his earlobe and Gendry takes in a sharp breath.  
Then he turns his head and catches her lips in another deep kiss.

They make it back to the shore and despite their hurry Gendry manages to fall down only once more.  
“I’ll make sure to take special attention to all those bruises too as soon as we’re home” she tells him when they are back in the car.

They are almost back at the house when Gendry, all focused on picturing Arya teaching him patience back in her bedroom, suddenly asks “Oh no what about the picnic you promised me?”  
“We can always picnic in bed. And besides”, Arya parks the car and opens her seatbelt before she turns to Gendry and shoots him a dirty look “I’ll have my taste of a special breakfast one way or another - don’t worry.”

With that Gendry races her to the front door and they are glad nobody is up to witness them bumping into every wall and tripping on the steps on their way back up, kissing hungrily.

At her door, Gendry picks Arya up, carries her over the threshold, kicks the door shot with his hip and looks deep into her eyes. “I’ll show you how patient I can be”.


End file.
